Q & A Member Spotlight: HeartFlow
HeartFlow aims to fundamentally change the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. In the US alone, that puts us working to prevent and treat ~350,000 deaths per year with many, many more impacted by coronary artery disease. World-wide numbers are even more staggering.
“FFRct” is HeartFlow’s FDA approved product. It is a non-invasive analysis of a patient’s coronary arteries that delivers both anatomic and functional information to a physician. Checkout out the video at www.heartflow.com.
Pictures > Words.
Buzzy and Steve from HeartFlow pictured above
Q: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR WORK?
A: HeartFlow is bringing GOOD into the world. We are saving lives everyday and as technologists the problems we work on cover computer science, human physiology, simulation, and plenty of the “traditional” tech stuff (machine learning, big data, cloud/high-performance computing). It is never dull and there are frontiers to explore in every direction.
Incidentally, we need a test engineer! Chat Buzzy or Steve up if this all sounds great to you (www.heartflow.com/careers, job “Software Engineer in Test, Simulation Algorithms”).
Q: WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING FROM HERE & WHAT DO YOU SEE IN HEARTFLOW’S FUTURE?
A: Buzzy, for one, just got here so he is not planning to go anywhere yet. He freely admits to some trepidation that “winter is coming”, but is committed to a bike commute. When it really starts with the rain and cold, feel free to remind him that he is doing the right thing.
Steve has been in the Portland area for 10 years and just got to HeartFlow. Not planning on going anywhere!
As far as HeartFlow’s future – growth, growth, growth. We recently negotiated favorable commercial agreements with GE, Philips, and Siemens (not too shabby for a start up!). We are continuously working to improve “FFRct” with a goal to become the standard of care for coronary artery disease. Beyond that, we have > 150 issued and allowed patents world wide and no shortage of plans for additional game changing products for the non-invasive treatment of heart disease and other regions of the body.
It should be quite a journey.